


is it hard to talk (when you’re scared of where the call is coming from)

by mangoharry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Customer Service & Tech Support, F/F, Student Harry, technical support, work from home life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mangoharry/pseuds/mangoharry
Summary: Harry disables her store ID and has to call customer support, one of her least favorite things to do in the entire world. She gets connected to Louis, and they get connected in more ways than one.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	is it hard to talk (when you’re scared of where the call is coming from)

**Author's Note:**

> this is obviously a work of fiction and would never happen in real life but it would be nice :-)

Talking on the phone was easily one of Harry’s least favorite things to do. She spent all day talking to people at her job at the library at school, but something about calling other people on the phone never sat well with her. It wasn’t even her fault that her phone wasn’t working the way it was supposed to and she had messed it up beyond repair. She glances at her computer screen, the black numbers on the white background glaring back at her angrily. She sighs, collecting her thoughts and dials the number on her phone.

She’s immediately met by a very robotic sounding operator, and she tells the robot man her request. He asks for more information and Harry gives it to him, hoping that she’ll be connected to a real person soon and not just a robot.

“Thank you for calling technical support. My name is Louis, and who do I have the pleasure of speaking with this afternoon?” Oh, _god._

That was a voice Harry would like to hear forever.

“Ummm, hi. I’m Harry.” Harry can almost feel her breath coming out shakily into her phone’s speaker.

“Hello Harry, thank you for calling in. I do see some notes here and I see you’re having problems with your store ID, is that correct?” The heavenly, silky smooth voice speaks into Harry’s ear.

“Yeah. I’m just trying to download an app for school and my phone isn’t letting me, it told me to call you to get it fixed.” Harry explains rapidly, her heart thumping in her ears. Has her mouth always felt this dry?

“Oh man, that’s no fun! I’m happy to help you out with that, Harry. Do you mind giving me your email to confirm some information?” Louis asks, and Harry drones her response to Louis, trying not to analyze her own voice too much. She couldn’t help but think if Louis thought her voice was annoying. 

“Absolutely perfect, Harry. I see some flags here on your account and I do see that you’re blocked from making new purchases, even if you’re trying to download a free app. Basically, that means that we’ve gotten some weird information from you recently and we just wanted to make sure it was you before you were able to make another purchase.” Louis explains calmly, and Harry finds herself nodding along to what Louis was saying, though she couldn’t see her. 

“Okay, I’m not sure what that information could have been but my credit card recently got stolen at school and I canceled it and the numbers are different now. Do you think that could have something to do with that?” Harry asks, and Louis makes a sound of affirmation.

“That’s probably it! Could you verify the last four numbers of that card for me?” Louis asks, and Harry digs into her messy backpack to find her card. She gives Louis the numbers and she can hear Louis typing them in. 

“Perfect, thank you, Harry! That actually removed the flags from your account, and you should be good to download apps to your heart’s content from now on.” Harry giggles quickly, not even registering the sound until it bubbles through her microphone. This made Louis giggle as well. 

“I don’t know if I can say this, but you have a lovely laugh,” Louis whispers into her ear, and it feels as though she’d said it to her while standing in front of her. Harry feels her cheeks warm up. 

“Thank you, Louis. Yours is great as well.” Harry whispers, looking around the vacant library to make sure no one could hear her. She pulls her phone from her ear, and opens up her app library. She clicks “install” on the app she needed, and the arrow spun around until it was fully downloaded.

“Louis! It worked!” Harry exclaims in joy, excited because she could download the app she’d needed. 

“That’s so wonderful, Harry. I’m glad we could get that issue resolved for you. What do you study at school?” Louis inquires with genuine interest.

“I’m an elementary education major, I love kids and I think it’s so cool to watch them grow! I think kids are so much smarter than many adults give them credit for. Also, I have to work so that I can provide my cat with thee luxury she’s used to.” Harry smiles, her passion coming through in her voice.

Harry swore she could hear Louis smile. “I have quite a few younger siblings, and I have to agree with you there. Sometimes my little sisters are smarter than me!” Louis lets out a small giggle, voice evident with fondness. 

“I almost wish I had another problem so I could stay on the phone with you. I was dreading this call, honestly, and I’m so glad I got connected with you.” Harry says rapidly, the warmness from earlier slipping back onto her cheeks as she spoke frankly to basically a total stranger.

Louis lets out another small laugh. “Well, I could always make something up so I have to spend more time on the call with you. You sound amazing and your voice is really great. I’d love to keep making you laugh. I’ll tell you what, Harry, I’ll give you my personal number and you can text me any time you’d like. It sounds like we may have quite a bit in common, and I’d love to get to know you a bit. Attached to my phone number will be my photo, I’d love to see what that sweet voice belongs to.” Louis says, smooth as ever, making Harry blush again — maybe that was going to be a constant with Louis. 

“That would be great if you could do that, Louis, I bet you’re so amazing in real life because you’re great at your job, and it’s almost like I’ve created a version of you in my head while we’ve been talking, and I’m curious to see if my imagination even comes close to the real thing.” Harry sighs, twirling a curl around her finger. 

It’s Louis’ turn to blush, and her ears are warm as she attaches her phone number to the call log.

“I think everything’s all squared away here, Harry, you can expect a transcript to your email within the hour and you’ll see my attachment. I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.” Louis smiles despite herself. She hears Harry’s wistful sigh, trying to think of something to prolong the call when she realizes what she can ask. 

“What’s your cat’s name?” Louis asks and hears Harry laugh again. She loves that laugh and loves being at the receiving end of it. 

“Her name’s Supernova, Nova for short, named after a song by my favorite band,” Harry tells Louis the same story she tells everyone but hears a gasp of recognition from Louis that she doesn’t get from most people.

“No way, your favorite band is Oasis?” Louis asks excitedly.

“Yes! Thank you for even knowing they exist, when I tell most people they have no idea who they even are!” 

“Love me some Gallagher brother drama.” Louis laughs, not wishing to end the conversation any time soon, though her timer on Harry’s call was ticking closer to zero.

“Listen, Harry, you’re so lovely and I really hope to hear from you again, but since your issue is resolved, we really don’t have much reason to be on the call anymore, as much as I wish that wasn’t true,” Louis says, her bottom lip popping out childishly, though she was alone in her office.

“I guess that’s okay, I do have some homework to get to. I’ll text you when I get the transcript log, okay, Louis? I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.” Harry smiles into her phone.

“You too, Harry, and thank you for calling for technical support. I’m glad I could get you taken care of.” Louis smiles into her headset. She hovers over the “end call” button, longing for the call to last longer.

“Bye, Louis,” Harry says, and it snaps Louis out of her moment.

“Bye, Harry. I’ll be waiting for your message.” Louis ends the call and smiles to herself, catching her own reflection in her computer’s monitor, and sighs deeply, collecting herself. She still had another 3 hours before she’d be able to look at her phone. 

Harry smiled down at her blank screen and waited impatiently for the call log to come through so that she could text Louis. When it finally came through, she composed a quick message to Louis and attached a photo of Nova and a few too many emojis. 

Louis received the message while on the phone with a grumpy old man, and it gave her something to look forward to when her shift was over.

**Author's Note:**

> the inherent tension between u and someone fixing ur problems :-)


End file.
